Holland City Council policy would help groups get tax-foreclosed properties

A policy being considered by the Holland City Council will allow the city to assist organizations with the purchase of tax-foreclosed properties as long as the help doesn’t cost the taxpayers any money.

A policy being considered by the Holland City Council will allow the city to assist organizations with the purchase of tax-foreclosed properties as long as the help doesn’t cost the taxpayers any money.

Discussion about the purchase of tax-foreclosed properties for non-city uses started in 2012 when the city council approved a move that helped the neighborhood organization 3-Sixty purchase two properties, said Neighborhood and Community Services Director Phil Meyer.

One property is being used by 3-Sixty to house summer interns who are working for the organization. The second is a community center.

The municipality in a which a tax-foreclosed property is located has the third option to buy the property — after the state and the county — before it is put up for public auction, Meyer said. In order for the city to buy a property, though, it has to serve a public purpose.

“It’s essentially their interpretation of public use,” Meyer said.

The city council decided in 2012 the projects proposed by 3-Sixty served the public. But the purchase also led to the need for a specific policy, one that stated that the city will step in and help with a purchase while it has the option and before the general public can bid, but that it — and taxpayers — should not bear any cost.

“Council determined that was a public purpose,” Meyer said. “It’s serving the neighborhood.”

The tax foreclosure sale usually happens in August, Meyer said. In June and July city officials are usually scrambling, looking at all the properties on the list within the city to figure out if any could be used for public purposes.

In June the city council approved the purchase of two properties. One, the alley west of and parallel to River Avenue off Seventh Street, is adjacent to a city parking lot and will now be considered as public access to that lot, Meyer said. The other is on Lincoln Avenue on the southern edge of the city next to the West Michigan Airport Authority and will be used for future needs by the airport. The properties cost the city $2,951 and $3,750 respectively.

The cost of the property includes back taxes, any maintenance fees incurred by the county, closing and transfer fees and attorney fees if there are any, Meyer said. Under the new policy, any organization the city works with will be responsible for those costs and the purchase would still need to be determined as a public use.

A public hearing prior to the approval of the purchase will also be part of the process, Meyer said. The council will likely vote on the policy Aug. 7.